Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry

Lore & Background

The game introduces a new mechanic: freeing African slaves, who serve as resources to unlock upgrades. Players can also recruit Maroons to fight alongside Adéwalé through procedurally generated instances, plantation raids, or story missions. The narrative is loosely connected to Black Flag but takes place fifteen years after its events, retaining core gameplay mechanics such as naval combat and third-person stealth. The soundtrack was composed by Olivier Deriviere, recorded with La Troupe Makandal and the Brussels Philharmonic.

Reader's Guide

Freedom Cry has been retrospectively assessed as a notable depiction of the slave narrative genre in video games. Critics praised its storytelling and focus on an established side character, but were disappointed by its short length and lack of substantial gameplay improvements over Black Flag. The Xbox One version received favorable reviews, while the PlayStation 4 and Xbox 360 versions scored lower. The game's lead writer Jill Murray and other writers received a Writers Guild of America Award nomination in 2015 for the screenplay and story. The game remains significant as a standalone expansion that addresses historical slavery themes within the Assassin's Creed franchise.

Did You Know?

• The game's lead writer Jill Murray also wrote Assassin's Creed III: Liberation and the Aveline DLC for Black Flag.
• The soundtrack was recorded at Studio Guillaume Tell in Paris with La Troupe Makandal, a group dedicated to Haitian music.
• The standalone version was released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in February 2014, and for PC on February 25, 2014.
• The game was included in Assassin's Creed: The Rebel Collection for Nintendo Switch, released December 6, 2019.